Description
What happens when you dedicate your life to something you love… and then one day, you can no longer feel it?
In this deeply human and unexpectedly moving conversation, I sit down with Elizabeth Sobol, CEO of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, for a conversation that transcends music, leadership, and career paths.
This is a conversation about disconnection, burnout, awe, and what it means to come back to yourself.
Elizabeth shares her journey from a childhood steeped in storytelling and song in rural North Carolina to a high-powered career in New York City’s classical music world, eventually rising to Managing Director at IMG and later President of a label at Universal Music.
But beneath the success, something quietly unraveled.
She found herself sitting in concert halls, surrounded by extraordinary music… and feeling nothing.
What unfolds is an honest exploration of burnout before we had language for it, the cost of chronic stress and disembodied work, and the quiet crisis of losing connection to what once made you feel alive.
Together, Dympna and Elizabeth explore:
The early roots of awe, wonder, and creativity and why they matter more than we realize
The unseen emotional labor of caregiving roles beyond medicine
Burnout as a physiological and relational experience
Why live, communal experiences (like music and dance) are biologically regulating
The concept of “entrainment” and how shared experiences sync our nervous systems
The difference between consuming life… and actually feeling it
How a surprising “retirement” call changed everything and led Elizabeth back to meaning
About Elizabeth Sobol
Elizabeth Sobol is the CEO of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), where she has reimagined what a performing arts institution can be in the modern era.
During her tenure, she has transformed SPAC into a year-round cultural destination, expanding programming across culinary, literary, healing, and visual arts, while dramatically increasing access through education initiatives that now serve tens of thousands annually.
She also led the creation of the SPAC School of the Arts and major campus renovations designed to deepen community connection and accessibility.
Before SPAC, Elizabeth held leadership roles at some of the most influential organizations in the arts, including serving as President & CEO of Universal Music Classics and Managing Director of IMG Artists, where she worked with world-renowned artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, and Joshua Bell.
Her career has spanned artist management, music production, and cultural leadership—but at its core has always been about one thing: bringing people into deeper connection with art, with each other, and with themselves.
Connect with SPAC
🌐 Website: https://spac.org
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spacsaratoga
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SPACSaratoga
You can reach me at podcast@dympnaweil.com
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